Floor laying machine



March 29, 1932. R. A. CHAPMAN FLOOR LAYING MACHINE Filed Aug. 19, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet lm'lii'll' INVENTOR flag maul JI. Chapman. ATTORNEY I March 29, 1932, R, CHAPMAN 1,851,931

INVENTOR Raggnond fl. Chapman ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 29, 1932 PATENT OFFICE RAYMOND AVCHAPMAN, or OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA FLOOR. LAYING MACHINE Application filed August 19, 1929. Serial No. 387,046.

This invention relates to floor laying machines, and particularly to that class adapted for use in laying hardwood floor, the principal object being the provision of a quick and 6 .efiicient'means to lay down flooring, and one that is cheap and easy to manufacture.

Another object is the provision of a clawed clamping .foot to cooperate with the body of a nailing machine for forcing a strip of floor- 10 ing to be nailed against the next adjacent strip of flooring.

Another object is the provision of a novel nail feeding device to release nails one by .one. I

Another object is the provision in a nailing machine, of means to maintain the slot of a nail holder at a proper width throughout its length. I

. Another object is the provision of a nail driving machine for driving nails at an angle and at a predetermined height above the bottom of a strip to be nailed.

The above being among the objects of the present invention, the same consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings,.and then claimed, having the above and other objects in View.

In the accompanying drawings which show a suitable embodiment of the present invention, and inwhichlike numerals refer to like parts throughout the several different views,-

Fig. 1 is aside view of the'machine.

2is an enlarged fragmentary side View With certain parts in section.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1. p I

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line H of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectional 5'5 of Fig. 2. 1

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 66of Fig. 2. I r

r Fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan View of Fig. 1 showing the nail feedingmechanism.

Fig. 8 is anenlarged fragmentary side view certain parts in section to better illustrate the nail feeding mechanism.

View taken on the line unsightly cracks in the floor. The nailing Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 with the cam in adifl'erent position.

i Fig. 10 shows the clawed end of the foot ever.

Fig. 11 is a plan view, of they nail rack.

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary side view showing a power hammer attached.

In laying hardwood floors in the conventional manner by hand, about one-half of the nails became bent in driving, thereby necessitating their removal. On the bending of the nails the tongue on the strip is usually cracked, which makes the next adjacent strip more diflicult to fit against it. Furthermore, if the hardwood flooring is slightlywarped, it iswnecessary to spring one strip against'the next and then drive the nail. This is sometimes extremely difficult to accomplish by hand and often results in very apparent and machines of the conventional constructions are devised for driving nails Vertically, and consequently are not adaptable for nailing hardwood. flooring where the nail shouldbe driven in the side of thestrip at an angle.

Furthermore, they are not adaptedto be used to clamp the strip to be nailed adjacent its mating strip while driving the nail. I

The device. herein described and claimed is adapted to drive nails in strips at an angle andat a predetermined distance from the bottom of the strip while forcing the strip to be nailed into clamping relation with its mating strip.

As illustrativev of the present invention, I have shown in the drawings a device comprising a main body which carries a reciproeating plunger, a nail feeding device, and a I foot to co-operate with the 'mainbody for forcing strips of flooring against each other. The main body comprises a head 10 and'an upwardly extendingshank 11 to the upper end ofwhich is connected a handle 12. A

lever arm 13 is pivoted at one end tothe head 10 bya pivot pin 14 at a point on thehead adjacent but spaced above the lower end of the head, and the other end of arm 13 is rovided with afloor or subfloor engagingfbot, preferably consisting. of downwardly disposed integral claws 21, as'shown in Fig. 10.

A coil spring 31 is secured to the head 10 and the foot 13 and tends to raise the clawed end 21 away from the floor. The head 10 is bevelled as at 15 so as to present a vertical face to the flooring when the main body is positioned at the desired angle. The head 10 has an aperture 17 with a reduced portion 22 continuing the aperture 17 to the lower end of the head 10. The aperture 17 receives the rounded lower portion of the square reciprocating plunger hammer 16, which has a reduced end 20 which slidably fits into the reduced portion 22 of the aperture 17 The upper portion of the plunger hammer 16 is received and guided by a bracket 18 which is attached to the shank 11. On the upper end of the plunger 16 is slidably positioned a hammer 23 slotted at 24 to receive a pin 25 secured to the plunger 16. This pin keeps the hammer 23 on the end of the plunger and allows enough axial movement to apply an impact force against the end'of the plunger 16 sufiicient to drive a nail.

The nail feeding device comprises two pairs of spaced brackets 27 and 28 which carry the slotted nail rack 29 shown best in Fig. 11. The slotted nail'rack 29, as shown in Fig. 11, has the open end beveled as at 30 and the edges beveled as at 32 in Fi s. 4 and 5. The nail rack is supported at the lowervend by brackets 33. attached to the inside 'of the brackets 27 and having beveled edges corresponding to the beveled edges on the rack 29. These beveled edges co-operate to urge the free end portions of the rack 29 outwardly against the brackets 27 in order to maintain the width of the slot atthe open end. I The upper end of the nail rack 29 is held between the sides of the spaced bracket 28 and is removably clamped therein by the bolt 34 and the wing nut 35. (lo-operating with the nail rack 29 to take away the nails 36 one by one is a cam 37 which is pivot'edon the brackets 33 by the pin 38. A finger 39 on the cam 37 has a hooked end 40 which passes down through the slot in the nail rack 29, and a wider stop face 50 which holds the nails from sliding down the rack 29 when the hooked end 40 is above the heads of the nails. A threaded, axially adjustable wire rod 42 is attached to the upper portion of the cam 37 by a pin 43. The hooked end 44 of the rod 42 is positioned to engage with a pin 45 on the plunger 16,

and is held in position with relation to the plunger by the brackets 46. A spring 47 is attached to the rod 42 and the bracket 27 and urges the rod back to normal position after the plunger has been released, A pin 48 is provided on the cain'to' limit the clockwise rotation of the cam, as shown in the drawings, to only enough to allow the head of the nail to pass under the hooked end 40, and the stop face 50 limits the rotation in the opponesneei site direction by contacting the upper surface of rack 29.

It will be apparent that when the plunger 16 is pulled up the hooked end 44 engages with the pin 45, thereby transmitting rotative motion to the cam 37. The one nail under the hooked end is therefore drawn down over the beveled end 30 of the nail rack and driven into the barrel 51 and the slot 49 leading to the reduced portion 22 of the aperture 17. When thehooked end .40 of the cam passes down into the slot in the rack 29 the outer surface of the finger portion 39 acts to keep the other nails back until the spring 47 draws the cam 37 back into a position where another nail can slide under the hooked end 40 against the stop face 50, as shown in Fig. 8. The pin 52 is provided on the reciprocating plunger 16 to abut against the bracket 18 and by preventing further upward movement of the plunger 16 prevent undue stress on the rod 42 by excessive axial movement, of the plunger 16'.

In operation the vertical side of the beveled. end 15 of the main body 10 is placed against a strip 53 to be nailed and the handle 12 is raised to its upper mostposition. The clawed end 21 is then forced into the floor by the foot of the operator. The handle 12 isnow forced down, causing the beveled end 15 to pivot around the joint 14, forcing the end 15 against the strip 53 and forcing the strip into contact with its mating strip.

The nail is now driven as follows: The plunger 16 is drawn upwardly until the pin 52 abuts against the lug, 18. During this operation the hooked end 44 of the wire rod 42 engages with the pin 45 and is also drawn upwardly thereby rotating the cam 37 and allowing a nail to drop down through the arrcl 51 and the slot 49 and into the reduced portion 22 of the aperture 17 into a position for driving. The nail passes down in an upright position head up, ready for driving. The plunger is now brought'down in contact. with the head of nail'and by a rapid succession of reciprocating movements of thehammer 26, the nail is driven home in a straight line and countersunk. The cycle of operation, then may be repeated. It will be understood that the -handie 26 may be replaced by a power hammer such as a pneumatic hammer, as shown in Fig. 11, without materially affecting the pres ent inventionr It will be apparent from the above description that the device herein described and claimed provides a means for driving anail into the side of flooring at an angle, automatically feeding the nailsone by one into the delivery chamber, forcing and maintaining thestrip to be nailed adjacent to its'mating strip during the nailing operation, and always driving the nail in the side of the strip at the proper distance from the floor.

and is alwaysin place with the Formal changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention described with out departing from the spirit or substance of the broad invention, the scope of which is commensurate with the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a device of the type described, in combination, a body member, bracket members secured to said body member in spaced relais approximately vertical when said machine tion longitudinally thereof, and a nail rack supported by said brackets, said rack com-- angle-between said faces being less than prising a slotted member having free ends, said ends being beveled, and beveled faces on one of said brackets co-operating with said beveled ends on said rack member to maintain said ends in a predetermined relationship.

2. In combination with a device of the type described, a head, a driving member received in said head, brackets supported on said head, a nail rack split longitudinally substantially its entire length and supported by I said brackets, said rack having downwardly and outwardly beveled free end portions, a pair of laterally spaced stop faces on said brackets, means including inwardly and upwardly beveled shoulders on said brackets adjacent said stop faces for receiving said bevelled ends and urging them outwardly against said stop faces, and means supported by one of said brackets for releasing nails from said rack one by one. a

3. In combination with a device of the type described, a head, a driving member received in said head, brackets supported on said head, a rack split longitudinally substantially its entire length and supported by said brackets, said rack having free ends, the edges of said ends and the bottom edges of said rack being beveled, and complementary faces on one of said brackets for receiving the beveled ends and edges of said rack.

4. In combination with a device of the type described, a head, a driving member within said head, means for feeding nails one by one into position driving member, and means causing said nail feeding device to co-operate with said driving member comprising a hooked endwire rod secured to said nail feeding device, a pin on said driving member co-operating with said hooked end to elevate the latter, and a spring attached to said rod for bringing the feeding device back to position after operation.

- 5. In combinations with a floor laying machine, means to adjust a piece of flooring into position to be laid comprising a nailinghead, flooring engaging means on said head, a lever pivoted at one end to said head above said flooringengaging means, subflooring engaging means rigidly secured adjacent the other endof said lever, and resilient means attached to said head and said lever constantly urging 'motion, a nail rack to be acted upon by said said subflooring engaging means toward in operative position.

rigid with'the lower end thereof, said memher being angularly disposed with respect to a floor when inoperative position with respect thereto,said head terminating in a pair of angularly disposed faces one of which is in operative position and the included degrees,said head having a bore therein terminating at its lower end in a nail emitting opening, opening onto said vertical face between the top and bottom limits thereof,

means forfeeding nails into said bore, and means reciprocable 1n sald bore for. e ectin said nails through said opening. I

7. A nailing machine having in combina tion a nailing head," a nailrack on said head having a nail guiding slot, a cam pivoted onsaid head, means to rotate'said cam, and a finger on said cam slidably received in said slot for drawing nails from said slot, said" 'cam having a shoulder contacting said'rack as said cam rotates to limit the rotation of said cam in one direction when said finger is in said slot and said shoulder cooperating with said rack upon rotation of said cam in the opposite direction to close the end of said nail, guiding slot when said finger is out of said slot.

8. A nail driving machine comprising a head having a plunger guide channel, a plunger disposed therein for reciprocatory disposed substantially parallel to the head, said rack being adapted to contain nails disposed transversely thereof with their pointsdirected toward the nail guide and means operable by reciprocation of the plunger for ejecting nails axially from the nail rack and deflecting them point downwardly under the plunger when the latter is elevated, said ejecting means including a member rotatable withinthe plane of the nails and having a finger thereon for engaging the heads of the nails for ejecting them one at'a time.

9. A nail driving machine comprising a head having a plunger guide channel, a plunger disposed therein for reciprocatory motion, a nail rack vdisposed substantially parallel to the guide, said rack being adapted to receive nails disposed transversely thereof with their points directed toward the nail guide and means operable by reciprocation of the plunger for ejecting nails axially from the nail rack and deflecting them point downwardly under the plunger when the latter is elevated, said ejecting means in eluding a member rotatable within the plane of the nails and having a finger thereon for engaging the heads of the nails for ejecting them one at a time, said rotatable member" also including a stop adapted to prevent escape of nails from the rack while the nail is being ejected.

10. A flooring device comprising a tiltable head having an approximately horizontal bottom face and an approximately vertical forward face in V-relation with respect thereto and having a longitudinally extending passage formed therein, a reciprocating driving member disposed in the passage, a nail magazine disposed substantially parallel to the head, the magazine being so proportioned that when the head is tilted in the normal nail driving position it does'not project materially beyond the plane of the head, 7

means for ejecting nails from the magazine into position to be'engaged by the reciproeating member, and means spaced from the point of contact of said head with a floor providing afulcrum about which the head may be tilted whereby to enable said vertical face to be employed for clamping purposes.

11. In a nail driving machine for flooring,

a tiltable head having a V point at the end thereof, one face of the V being disposed approximately vertical when the head is in operative position, a nail receiving channel extending longitudinally through the head and discharging nails through the vertical face of the head into the edge of a board, floor engaging means pivoted to the head and providing a fulcrum for the latter,additional means for feeding nails to the nail channel and a plunger operable in the latter for driving the nails.

12. In a machine for laying and nailing flooring, an elongated member having a head rigid with the lower end thereof, said memher being angularly disposed with respect to a. floor when in operative position with respect thereto, said head terminating in a pair of angula-rly disposed faces one of which is approximately vertical when said machine is in operative position and the included angle between said faces being less than degrees, said head having a bore therein terminating at its lower end in a nail emitting opening opening onto said vertieal face between the topand bottom limits thereof, means for feeding nails into said bore, means reciprocable in said bore for ejecting said nails through said opening, and an arm pivoted to said member above its floor contacting point and having a floor en gaging end, whereby to provide a fulcrum for said member to enable said vertical face to be employed for clamping purposes against flooring being worked 11 on."

' RAYMOND A. CHAPMAN. 

